Entertainment is a necessary part of living expenses. A lot of people undervalue entertainment, but they are not really taking that aspect of their lives seriously. It is one of the easiest aspects of life to save money on, but doing so can often mean giving up something you really love, whether that’s going out to movies, drinking with friends at a local pub or going to professional sporting events. Because this is such an ubiquitous expense in everyone’s life, it’s your responsibility to find the right balance between what’s worth splurging for and what can be ditched. Consider the following tips next time you’re planning your weekend, and you may just save a bundle of dough!

1. Bang for Your Buck
If you don’t try to get the most bang for your buck possible,you’re throwing it down the drain. Think about what you’ll treasure in the future and what kind of memories you want to build. For instance, if you want to spend your time watching movies, but you know that treating your family of 5 to an evening show is too pricy, open up a subscription to Netflix account.

2. Board Games
Families shouldn’t just spend money on movies. Consider investing in board games, which will provide many evenings of great memories. Board games are not the boring items they used to be. In fact, they’re getting pretty awesome nowadays. It may seem like $30 is a lot to spend on an item, but if you play it once a month for a couple of years, that’s 24 evenings where you won’t be spending that much at the movies or out at dinner.

3. Smart TVs
A Smart TV is a good investment because you can get virtually free entertainment with only a few clicks of a button. You won’t need to spend money on an expensive cable package, because you can spend $7.99/month on Netflix, or get a free YouTube app without doing anything other than getting a TV like this. The apps are already on the smart-TV, ready to go! This is a great way to get the most use out of a single electronic purchase ever. You won’t have to keep spending money on home entertainment like pay-per-view, video rentals, or movie purchases. You can just get all your content over and over again through live streaming apps. This is emerging as a great alternative for couples that don’t want to spend a lot of money on expensive cable packages, and can be great for you too!